Dyche early contender for Sunderland role

Dan Black

Burnley boss Sean Dyche has emerged as an early contender for the managerial role at Sunderland should Sam Allardyce be named as the new England boss.

The Black Cats have started putting contingency plans in place at the Stadium of Light with Allardyce expected to accept the FA’s invitation to become Roy Hodgson’s successor. The 61-year-old held talks with representatives of the Football Association on Tuesday after flying back from Sunderland’s pre-season training camp in Austria.

A statement from the Premier League club read: “The Football Association contacted Sunderland AFC to seek permission to speak with our manager as part of what was supposed to be a confidential discussion process with potential candidates for the position of England manager.

At Sam Allardyce’s request, we agreed to this.

Sam is very much key to our plans. After what was an extremely challenging season, we are keen to see a period of stability, both on and off the field, and we want him to remain as manager of our football club.

The ongoing speculation over Sam’s position is extremely damaging to Sunderland AFC, particularly at this crucial time of the season and we urge the FA to respect the disruption that this process is causing and bring about a swift resolution to the matter.”

Dyche was linked to the post twice last year after Dick Advocaat vacated the role in October following an initial change of heart in the summer.

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